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Lobos Overcome by Missouri and San Diego on Saturday

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif.—  The University of New Mexico Lobos were on the losing end of both Saturday contests at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, falling 5-0 to No. 18/19 Missouri and a narrow 6-5 loss to San Diego.

UNM (6-7) registered seven hits between the two contests, with senior shortstop Cameryn O’Grady and first baseman Reyan Tuck recording two each on the day. Taryn Young, Andrea Howard and Rachael Hathoot accounted for the other three hits in the two games.

Howard led the team with a combined three RBI in the two games, with Sydney Broderick and O’Grady finishing the day with one.

The Lobos received stellar relief pitching from senior Bailey Klitzke, who made an appearance in both games and pitched a scoreless combined 6.2 innings, striking out eight batters and allowing just four hits and one walk.

Freshman left fielder Briana Martinez reached base safely in both games to continue her on-base streak to 13 games, both occurring on walks. As a team, the Lobos earned their way on base seven times via base on balls, led by two each from Martinez, O’Grady and Young.

In addition, Tuck extended her hitting streak to six games.

GAME ONE: MISSOURI

The Lobos fell behind early and struggled to generate any offense at the plate in the 5-0 defeat, tallying just one hit in the contest on the bat of Tuck.

UNM got back to what made the Lobos successful with patience at the plate in the first inning with three full counts and earning their way on base with two walks from O’Grady followed by Martinez, but left them stranded after being unable to put the ball in play.

The Tigers needed just two at-bats to get to freshman pitcher Brianna Sanchez, getting the leadoff hitter on base with a hit-by-pitch followed with a two-run home run to right field. UNM limited the damage with a double play ball, but the play resulted in a run to cross the plate for the 3-0 Lobo deficit.

Tuck led off the second inning with a single to right field, but a strikeout, a fielder’s choice and another strikeout kept the Lobos off the board.

Missouri (11-4) added two more runs in the second on a double to left field that drove in two runs for the final runs of the game by either team.

UNM was able to move a runner into scoring position just once more in the game, coming off of an O’Grady walk on another full count and a passed ball that helped her move to second in the third inning.

Klitzke entered to replace Sanchez to start the third and closed the bottom of the third with two of her four total strikeouts.

Lauren Wilmert threw out a runner trying to steal to end the fourth, the fifth runner a Lobo catcher has thrown out this season, and Klitzke would retire five batters in a row between the fifth and sixth innings to keep the Tigers from plating additional runs.

Klitzke finished with a final line of 4.0 innings, allowing just two hits while striking out four and walking one. Of the 56 pitches thrown, 36 went for strikes. Sanchez pitched 2.0 innings with five runs on four hits, with half of her 52 pitches going for strikes in the loss.

GAME TWO: SAN DIEGO

As the designated visitors, the Lobos struck first in the top of the first, using a two-out walk to generate the run. Martinez walked on a 3-1 count and on the ensuing at-bat, came around to score on Howard’s at-bat, after an error by the first baseman when a pop fly near the circle dropped in.

However, San Diego answered in the bottom of the inning with a double, a single and a blooper in right field to tie the game at one.

After starting pitcher Kiana Spencer needed just seven pitches to retire the Toreros in order in the bottom of the second, the Lobos regained the lead in the top of the third, again on the bat of Howard.

Young started off the inning with a walk following a full count, and a sacrifice bunt by Hathoot moved Young into scoring position. An O’Grady blooper to left field that dropped in between the shortstop and left fielder put runners on second and third and with two outs, Howard hit the ball over the left fielder’s head to bring them both in for the 3-1 Lobo lead.

San Diego again answered with two runs of its own with a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning and would take a 6-3 lead in the fourth.

The Lobos had an opportunity to cut into the deficit in the fifth with Young leading off with a single to the shortstop and Hathoot reaching on an error by the second baseman that allowed Young to move to third. A single by O’Grady to right field resulted in Young coming in to score, but Hathoot was thrown out trying to run from first to third on the play. A walk by Howard put the tying run on, but on the next play, the Lobos ran into the third out after Tuck singled to right and the Toreros caught O’Grady in a rundown, tagging her out as she attempted to get back to third.

Klitzke struck out the side in the fifth and retired the side in order in the sixth for her seventh consecutive out.

Down to their last three outs and needing two runs to tie the game, the Lobos put the first two runners on with a four-pitch walk for Young and a single by Hathoot to center that moved Young all the way to third. Entering to pinch hit for Taylor Jones, Broderick hit a fly ball on the 0-1 pitch to center, but was deep enough to allow Young to tag from third to make it a one-run game. With the tying run standing on first, a fly ball to center ended the game.

Klitzke entered to replace Spencer in the fourth with one out, pitching 2.2 scoreless innings with just two hits allowed, no walks and four strikeouts. The senior pitched an efficient 35 pitches with 24 called strikes.

Spencer finished with a line of 3.1 innings pitched, allowing seven hits and six runs (four earned). The senior threw 43 pitches with 30 going for strikes.

O’Grady led with two hits in the game as Howard, Tuck and Young each had one. Howard accounted for three of UNM’s five RBI in the game and Young led with two of UNM’s four walks.

UNM closes out the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic with a final game on Sunday against California, set for 12:30 p.m. MT.

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